Another day

Yes. I am out of town.

But by the time most of you read this, I’ll be back home.

About a month ago, AJ asked me if I’d be willing to come to Dallas to speak to her Bible Study group and I said yes because there are few things I adore more than a group of twenty-something girls.

So I flew in yesterday afternoon, we grabbed some lunch, I took a quick nap on her couch and then we went to Bible Study. And I met some of the cutest girls. I totally meant to take a group picture but then I forgot and then we all went and ate Mexican food and then it just never happened.

I’ll tell y’all more about the trip tomorrow along with other things, but for now I’ll just tell you that they were the most fun group. We had the best time hanging out and I hope I didn’t ramble endlessly about nothing. The only down moment of the evening came while we were eating some chips and guacamole and I was absolutely feeling like I was one of them. Just a young girl with no lines on my face. And then somehow our conversation turned to the Royal Wedding. And they all mentioned they weren’t born when Charles and Diana got married.

That was 1981.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, several of them recalled hearing about Princess Diana’s death. It happened at the beginning of their fifth grade year.

And so I came home, put a little extra Oil of Olay on face and went to bed.

A list. That’s what I have today. A list.

1. A few days ago, my friend Holly Mathis wrote a post featuring houses with yellow front doors. And I’ve become a little obsessed with the colors used on this house.

I’m not saying I actually want a bright yellow front door, but I’m not saying I don’t.

It sure is cute.

2. Speaking of front doors, we’ve had to face the reality that we are dead to door guy. I have no doubt that both of our phone numbers are now on permanent DO NOT ANSWER status. And since I have no desire to forever live with a piece of plywood stapled to the hole in our front door, I called a glass company to come give us an estimate.

Lo and behold, it is no big deal to replace the glass, contrary to what we were told by door guy. It will be ready next week and the whole thing is costing a little over $100. Which makes it even more shocking that door guy didn’t just pony up a new piece of glass.

3. Gulley told me she saw the movie trailer for The Help the other night while watching a T.V. special about William and Kate. I tried to swallow my bitterness that at the same time Gulley was experiencing T.V. perfection, I was being subjected to some movie called Zombieland.

And then I found the trailer on Youtube so I could watch it for myself. LOVE.

If you need me in August, I’ll be at the theater.

4. Several of you asked about the Mama Tried t-shirt Caroline had on in the picture yesterday. It is one of my absolute favorites and was sent to her by the Junk Gypsies. If you’ve never visited their site and seen all their cool stuff, you’re missing out.

5. And, yes, she was wearing a Mexican dress in the picture with my sunglasses. We bought it at the Fiesta Store here in town, but you can find approximately one million of them at El Mercado in downtown San Antonio.

But if you don’t happen to have a mercado in your town, you can find them on Etsy.

And if you want to recreate my seventh grade year, you can wear it with jelly shoes.

6. The app I used for my phone pictures is Instagram. If you don’t have it, you need it. And it’s free.

7. I know I haven’t talked at all about Friday Night Lights season premiere. Mainly because I don’t even know where to begin. So let’s start where all good things begin, Tim Riggins. Hated to see him in jail, but I was glad to see him at all.

Julie Taylor leaving for college about did me in. I was seconds away from the ugly cry.

Coach Taylor was perfection as always.

And Landry visiting Grandma Saracen was one of my favorite scenes.

All in all, I can’t wait to see what happens. Based on the previews, it looks like it’s going to be quite the ride.

8. Boden is having a big 40% off sale right now on all kinds of cute stuff, including their raincoats. I’ve wanted one of their raincoats for a while now but I don’t dare order one at this point and I’ll tell you why. I finally bought a pair of rainboots back in January and I’ve worn them ONE time. WHEN IT SNOWED.

I feel like I might be singlehandedly responsible for the drought. Who knows what would happen if I bought a raincoat? I couldn’t live with the guilt.

9. What’s everybody doing for Easter? Any big plans? Do you eat Easter lunch or Easter dinner? What do you have? Or do you just eat a six-pack of Reeses’ Eggs and call it a day?

10. Don’t forget about the Tracy Porter giveaway. You can enter by visiting this page right here. I’ve also got a giveaway going for a $100 Visa gift card from Tropicana. You can enter by visiting here.

See y’all tomorrow.

Tracy Porter reminder/ Tropicana reminder

Do you remember way back on Friday when I said I had a really great giveaway planned for today? Well, I wasn’t lying. I have a great giveaway today.

If you aren’t familiar with Tracy Porter, then you’re about to fall in love. Click on over to my giveaway page to discover some serious fabulousness and enter for a chance to win.

I could go into some big elaborate reasons for why I’m talking in bullet points today. That is, if big and elaborate could be qualified by BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT.

1. I’m sure you’ll all be relieved to know that the tooth has landed. I repeat, the tooth has landed.

It was still hanging on when I picked Caroline up from school yesterday so we drove to HEB and bought some Orajel. I put some on her gums, she gave the tooth a good tug, and out it came. She was so excited that she knocked over a full glass of water and dropped the tooth on the floor. Chaos and pandemonium ensued.

But, in the end, the tooth was located and all was well. It is currently awaiting pickup by the tooth fairy.

Caroline looks so dang cute with her little snaggletooth I can hardly stand it. I could sop her up with a biscuit.

2. I’d been keeping Gulley apprised of the tooth situation for the last few days, so I called her to tell her the news. As soon as she answered the phone I said, “THE TOOTH IS OUT”.

She gasped and asked, “ABOUT WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED?”

It would seem she thought I’d said, “THE TRUTH IS OUT” and thought I was on the verge of some sort of confession. Which is hilarious considering that if Gulley doesn’t know something about me, it’s only because it isn’t true. She knows it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

But I appreciated her enthusiasm for some potential drama.

3. Last night I dreamed that the message light came on in my car to notify me that my tuxedo was ten years old and I needed a new one. I woke up completely stressed out over the thought of having to buy a new tuxedo.

Needless to say, I was so relieved when I became conscious enough to realize I don’t own a tuxedo and, furthermore, don’t need one.

4. I’ve recently gotten on a sparkling water kick. I pour it over ice and then squeeze in a ton of lime juice. It’s become my nightly mocktail.

My sparkling water of choice has been Topo Chico because I like the way the bottles look. Kind of retro and vintage-y. But then P pointed out that most people don’t typically think of Mexico as the source for great water, much less do they pay for it in bottles no matter how cute they may be.

He makes a good point.

5. I finally committed to a pair of neutral-colored wedge heels. We can all breathe a sigh of relief.

They look like this except mine have cork wedge heels which I think makes them much cuter.

I bought mine at Rack Room. And of course I only paid $15.00.

6. Sometime last week my friend was complaining about getting hormone-related blemishes (Yes, blemish. It’s the only word I can tolerate for facial issues. The other ones gross me out.)

I made a huge error in judgement and said, “You know, I have other hormone-related issues such as wanting to throw the toaster out the kitchen window on occasion, but I don’t really get many blemishes”. And less than 24 hours later, I had something on my face that looked like a third eye. When I looked at it in the magnifying mirror it growled at me.

Gulley helped a sister out and told me about a miracle in a tube. Neutrogena On-the-Spot Acne Treatment. She said it would be gone the next day and I didn’t believe her. That’s just what people say to make you feel better.

But it was. IT WAS GONE THE NEXT DAY.

(This is not a paid endorsement. It’s just love.)

7. Friday Night Lights starts tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on NBC. If you’ve never watched, you need to go get the first four seasons and watch them before then. Or you could pace yourself, whatever.

8. We still don’t have beveled glass in our front door. Is anyone surprised?

9. I realize I haven’t announced the next book club selection. That’s because I haven’t decided on it yet.

10. There is no ten. Except now there is. But there’s nothing here.

Have a great day.

I was really hoping something interesting and exciting would happen today, but unless you count that I finally managed to clean off the majority of the junk piled up on the island in my kitchen, we’re fresh out of interesting around here.

Our day started a little late because I let Caroline sleep in a little late. I figure no one ever claims the reason they didn’t get into Harvard was because they missed the first hour of second grade. If she doesn’t get into Harvard it will be for reasons directly related to her gene pool, specifically having a mother who graduated from college while on scholastic probation.

(Also, I just told P that I thought Beirut was in Nicaragua.)

(It’s not.)

(It’s in Lebanon.)

(Who says Chuck Norris movies from 1985 aren’t educational?)

(Besides everyone?)

After I dropped her off at school I came home, started some laundry, and attempted to straighten up the house from the wreckage of the weekend. There were sandals and clothes and bows everywhere, thanks to Caroline’s belief that every new activity requires a new outfit. I made a grocery list and cleaned off the island. I believe I’ve already mentioned that.

As for the rest of my day, I went to lunch with Bops and watched The Judds’ new reality show. Bops didn’t watch it with me. I just wanted to be clear about that because he doesn’t believe in reality television unless it involves people in foreign countries trying to buy a house. And, by the way, The Judds’ show is fascinating. It really confirmed for me that Caroline and I should never form a band and spend her teen years on a tour bus together. And that will probably work out seeing as how the only time I’ve ever been offered any money for singing was in the form of “How much money will it take for you to stop?” Because P thinks he is hilarious.

Once I picked up Caroline from school we went directly to HEB to forage for food. And that’s when I began to notice all the talking. I mean, she always talks. She’s a talker. She uses a lot of words. She doesn’t believe in using eight words if she can use sixty-four instead. I have no idea where she gets it.

Our entire trip through HEB was a running commentary about various vegetable selections and why she likes raspberries better than blackberries and did I know that her friend Kai made a weird face at her today at recess and she doesn’t know why he made that face but she didn’t like it and OH! can we get this kind of peanut butter and she didn’t eat her grilled cheese sandwich for lunch because she wasn’t a fan of cheese today and sometimes she thinks her favorite color might be blue but she still really likes pink and sometimes purple.

And then we got home and it was the same thing. All the way through the afternoon and into dinner time. I was so glad to see P walk through the door at the end of the day so he could bear some of the conversational burden. I was out of answers. I was all talked out.

I made stir fry for dinner, in between answering questions about why peppers come in so many different colors and did I remember she didn’t like mushrooms, and then we all sat down at the table to eat together. Needless to say, the conversation was flowing.

Finally, we read bedtime stories and I tucked her into bed. That brings us to the portion of the night where P and I like to place bets on how long before she gets back up and what her excuse will be. Last night, I bet that it would be ten minutes and she’d need to blow her nose or take allergy medicine. P bet that it would be fifteen minutes and her pajamas would be too hot.

We were both wrong.

She walked out of the bedroom about thirty minutes later and said, “I was just about to drift off to sleep when I couldn’t help but notice how cold the sheets are. Will you help me find a pair of socks?”

I didn’t see the sock request coming. Nor did I realize it would be phrased like she’s seven going on sixty-two.

As I got up off the couch to help her find her fuzzy socks, P started to say something and then stopped himself. She’d walked ahead of me into her room so I turned to him and asked, “What were you going to say?”

He said, “I was going to suggest that she ask the monster that lives under her bed to rub her feet to keep them warm.”

While I was so grateful he knew enough to not actually say it, I fell in love with him all over again for thinking of it. Mainly because it reminded me of one of my favorite Far Side cartoons ever.

Nobody makes cartoons like Gary Larson anymore.

And that was our day.

Did I mention I cleaned off my kitchen island? Because I did. I totally did.